Tag Archives: Internal Kung Fu

6 Harmonies, Liu He Ba Fa

Liu He Ba Fa 6 Harmonies: 4th Harmony — Combine Your Qi with Your Shen.

The 4th Harmony is combine Qi and Shen

qi he yu shen 气合于神

Now you have a powerful form!  Yet there is more.  Some martial artists stop here, their Qi abundant and their lives full of energy.  There is another level.  You must reignite that fire in your belly and change the energy into shen.   The spirit must follow the qi to the upper dan tian and build there.  You must allow your spirit to then touch every fiber of your being, every hair on your body.

Through this your awareness will become truly keen, you will experience things on a new level.  A spiritual power is a strong thing if developed.  Have you ever seen a truly intimidating person just stare another down, see a person cower in fear, knowing they are powerless against them — this is a very similar concept, it’s a subconscious event that one cannot explain.  If developed your shen can be a handy tool for health and combat.

 

This level is just the 4th but still few reach this level.  They do not make their Qi abundant and thus cannot mix and convert it into Shen.  They will pontificate on the finer point of hormones and vitality, describing Shen in terms that they can relate to.  Is it this, yes– but it is so much more.  Your spirit can expand beyond the physical limits of these things, expand upon your own body.  It is an awareness and vitality only few know.  How can you tell if a person has started down this path?  They will become calm and relaxed, their outward appearance will radiate their inward strength and vitality.  A person will start to develop yansheng (spirit from the eyes 眼神).  It’s a difficult level to perceive let alone master, but the journey towards this harmony will make one healthy, strong, and vibrant.

6 Harmonies, Liu He Ba Fa

Liu He Ba Fa 6 Harmonies: 3rd Harmony — Combine Intention with Qi

GM Wu Yi Hui – 20. Water Flows down the High Mountain

3rd Harmony: Combine your Intent and your Qi yi he yu qi意合于气

 

You have worked hard and you understand the movements internally and externally.  You have started to develop Nèiwài wéi yītǐ (内外为一体)!  Now the hard work comes in.  That intention must drive your internal energy throughout the form.  You must combine the inside with the outside and make it one.  Without your Qi there will be no true strength.  Now you may have some physical strength applied but that is not the intent with internal martial arts.  Physical strength can be strong but is considered a dead or stiff energy.  You need to develop that lively power; a person needs to relax their physical body, align it properly, and use internal principles to create Li (力).  Physical strength can decline quickly in older age (modern medicine and greater understanding of physical training has helped extend this to some extent though) but internal strength can stay with a person to the end of your days if properly maintained and practiced.  To be 90 years old but move like your 30 and hit like your 20 is possible.  It takes true dedication and understanding but yet still attainable.  It starts with this harmony.

Now a person must truly start to practice and dedicate themselves.  You have to make your energy abundant through diligent practice.  This can be accomplished in a myriad of ways, either through the form, zhan zhuang, silent meditation, other internal arts etc.  However the more you practice the one form (Liu He Ba Fa in this instance) and engrain the energy with it the better it will be.  Qi must be driven throughout your body; your 4 extremities filled evenly.  Your lower dan tian will become full and hard like a rock.  Once you have put the energy into thebank (so to speak) you can then withdrawal it, focus it throughout the form, and demonstrate true internal strength.  Once your internal energy combines with your external movements you will have true Fa li and your form will look relaxed yet very powerful.

6 Harmonies, Liu He Ba Fa

Liu He Ba Fa 6 Harmonies: 2nd Harmony– Heart (mind) Combines With Your Intention

2nd Harmony: Combine your Heart (Mind) with your Intention – xin he yu yi心合于意

Focus is important, but more importantly what are you focusing on?  Are you focusing on your day at work, your family, or the task at hand!   It takes 200 days of consistent practice to learn the external movements properly (according to some experts).  What does that movement really mean though?   What is happening both inside and out?   This understanding takes MUCH longer.  The intention of each movement  needs to be thoroughly understood to apply the correct energies and applications.  Without the focus your mind can be pulled away, causing hesitation, inconsistences, and ultimately bad habits.  You need to be fully in the moment of what you are doing and where you are at.  Without it you are mindlessly doing an external form (which can still get a person physical benefits but does not reach the full potential of the art).

 

Also this is where 10,000 repetitions can truly compound.  With intention– with focus, it will engrain in a person’s inner conscious;  it has the potential to become second nature.  To fully open to the intention of each movement; to open to the energy and animalistic nature (yes there are 12 animals within this art) of it has profound results.   You become one with the form and the form becomes one with you.  Liu He Ba Fa has many variants among the main form but if you look deeply into that practitioners inner intent you can see if they have the essence of it.  Are certain moves fierce like a tiger, does it coil like a dragon, and deeper still do they demonstrate the 8 methods such as follow and return.  If their intention and focus is engrained in them, they will display these principles thus demonstrate Liu He Ba Fa.

16 Principles of Tai Chi

[15] Simplify Things by Using Your Whole Body.

What’s one of the overarching themes I have explained throughout these principles?  Connectedness!  Now on surface level of this statement its pretty straight forward.  Your body–every fiber, muscle and joint– must be connected to accept and deliver the maximum amount energy.  When one part moves it all moves in some fashion (even at a very microscopic level) and when one part is still it all must be still.  External energy is maximized with this principle.  You can become truly fluid and move like the wind when all parts are truly connected.

But wait there is more!  Internal martial arts deals has an inside to deal with.  You must learn to connect all these parts together as well to generate and build energy then refine spirit.  Without these concepts your internal martial art is merely an external shell of a form.

Without unifying everything your results will be modest at best.  Some people learn to move well, and are truly beautiful and can generate decent amounts of power but they do not work internally so they can never break that glass ceiling of  power generation.  Others work only on internal aspects but let they body go to hell so they can barely move or are sluggish and slow.  This power generated is still modest and in most aspects worse than the external people.  Yin and Yang must balance.  It’s concept, like explained earlier, is easy to say but very hard to actually implement.  Your body, internally and externally, must be connected to generate the true potential of internal martial arts.

16 Principles of Tai Chi

[10] Arriving is a Matter of Your Spirit.

The Spirit again!  As discussed in principle 3 the Shen is what gives us the ability understand our surroundings, decipher our opponent, and perceive their intentions without giving anything away.  Your ability to develop your spirit, through slow and deliberate processes can give you a great advantage and open up a whole new world.

Boxers, mma figthers, etc… the great ones are able to see the micro-movements in their opponents and counter or move first off that, disrupting and ultimately overcoming their counterpart’s strategy.  The greats like Li Nengran, Dong Haichaun, and Yang Luchan were able to do this on a different level; through the feeling of another’s energy and spirit.  How is that possible? It’s a different level that takes dedication, years of practice and refinement, and even then only 1 in 10,000 can reach it.

To reach this goal you must develop your Qi into Shen, raise it up into your Upper Dan Tian and develop your Shen valley (part in-between your two brain lobes).  You must open your upper valley to perceive all things (third-eye concept).  This is where it will get weird and will require your already top-notch very knowledgeable instructor to help you!  The sensations and perceptions you will experience will be nothing like you have ever had before (like a baby coming into a new world) and others will have thought you lost your mind.  A instructor will have to guide you back and show you control and understanding.  Last thing a person wants is to be perceived looney yet just be on that next level with no way to get it under control 😉

This concept is where you have to truly believe in the deeper levels of internal martial arts.   Some people consider it laughable, that is fine and I will never begrudge a person who thinks so; the rarity and dedication to this concept seems to have escaped modern times.   However like other esoteric concepts (example- an after life) what does it hurt to go after this level?  Even if you don’t reach it the benefits you will reap from the prior levels will be amazing for mind, body and soul, giving you a long and hopefully happy life!